Jeremy slept later than usual on Saturday morning, the one time during the week when he had some free time. It was almost nine o’clock when he finally got out of bed. Everybody else in his family was already up. Loras was up in the attic, attempting to patch a leaky roof that had never been totally right since it started leaking over six months ago. Bart was in the living room watching TV, a Saturday morning show about Virginia freedom fighters battling RSNA subversives. Jane was over at a friend’s house, playing. Leona was cleaning the kitchen.
Leona smiled at Jeremy when he walked into the kitchen. “Your father told me that you are going to Lexington for the week,” she said as Jeremy took a seat at the table. She got out the biscuits and gravy that she had been keeping warm. Jeremy poured himself a glass of victory juice from a pitcher on the table.
“That’s right,” answered Jeremy. “This should be an exciting trip. I should learn a lot about what they do at VMI. It will also help improve my chances of getting accepted there.”
“I am very happy for you,” continued Leona as she got a special treat for Jeremy out of the refrigerator, a small egg that she had brought home from the farm last night. “I know you will do well. You are very bright and will impress everyone there.”
“That’s what I plan to do,” replied Jeremy as he started to eat the biscuits and gravy, eagerly anticipating the egg that Leona had begun to fry in a pan on the stove. “Only eleven boys from my school got chosen. The general said that Major Warnecke had highly recommended each of us. This is a big opportunity.”
“I know you will make the most of it,” complimented Leona. “Is there anything your father and I can do to help you get ready?”
“General Brady said we only need to wear civilian clothes and meet at Lee High at noon tomorrow,” Jeremy responded. “Everything else we need will be provided when we get to VMI.”
“I will drive you to school tomorrow,” volunteered Leona as Jeremy silently wondered why his father would not be taking him. Soon Leona finished frying the egg, scraping it off the pan and onto Jeremy’s plate. Unlike the biscuits and gravy, which Jeremy consumed quickly, he ate the egg slowly, savoring every bite. Eggs were a treat not available most mornings. Jeremy wanted to enjoy it as much as he could.
While he was enjoying breakfast, Jeremy looked through the sports section of the morning paper. The Arlington Generals had won last night, defeating Huntington. But Richmond won their game against Norfolk, too. That meant Richmond remained six and a half games ahead. Arlington had nine games left. Richmond had eight. Not much hope left. At least Arlington was now a game further ahead of third-place Norfolk, five games in all. Second place seemed assured.
After he finished eating breakfast, Jeremy told his mother that he was going over to Vince’s house. Leona told him to have fun. Vince must have been reading his mind, because when Jeremy emerged from the front door of his house, he saw Vince strolling up the sidewalk toward his house.
“Hey, Vince!” Jeremy shouted. “Let’s go over to the vacant lot and play some baseball with the guys!”
Not responding to the suggestion, Vince just signaled for Jeremy to come closer.
“Jeremy,” Vince whispered once they were within whispering distance, “I have finally figured it out.”
“Figured what out? What are you talking about?”
“How to get over to DC without getting caught.” Now Jeremy knew why Vince wanted to whisper.
“How will you do that?” queried Jeremy, now also deducing that this had been why Vince was examining the fence so closely the night before.
“We will go under the fence. There is a spot not far from that island that we went to last night where we can do it.”
“Won’t somebody see us?”
“I’ve gone over there several times. That road is not used very much. Just an occasional military vehicle.”
“So we are just supposed to take a chance that one does not come by?” Jeremy still sounded skeptical.
“Those vehicles come by at regular intervals. We just wait for one to get out of sight; then we go under the fence and swim across.”
“I’m still nervous. General Krakowski ordered us not to go over there. He must have a reason. And what would the government do if we got caught?”
“We won’t get caught. Besides, what bad could there be over there? Just a bunch of overgrown plants and run-down buildings. How can anybody get mad about us seeing that?”
“There must be something over there that Krakowski doesn’t want us to see. Otherwise there would not be any order to keep us out.”
“Come on. Nobody will catch us. We just wait for the coast to be clear, swim over, and wait for it to be clear again when we swim back. Besides, haven’t you been curious about what’s over there?”
Jeremy had to admit that he had been curious about what was in DC. Who was not? “OK, I’ll go over to the road with you and see the place where you think we could cross. But that does not mean I’ll go over with you.”
The two boys nonchalantly headed south and east toward the point that Vince had mentioned. After over an hour of walking, they got to the top of a hill overlooking the river. Much of the area between them and the river road was like DC, mostly weeded over, with scattered remains of some buildings interspersed. A military vehicle was heading northbound on the river road. It was the only vehicle in sight.
As Jeremy and Vince headed down the hill, the weeds and building remains provided effective cover. “This land must not be good for gardening,” Jeremy commented. Most vacant land in Virginia had been converted to gardens to help increase food production.
The two boys hid in some weeds in a ditch once they got close to the road. Patiently, they waited for another military vehicle to pass. After several minutes, a southbound military vehicle roared by. They watched as it continued on. Soon it disappeared around a curve.
“Let’s go,” encouraged Vince now that there were no military vehicles in sight. Across the road they scurried, then off to the right, where the remains of a broken bridge provided more cover. Looking down, Jeremy noticed a low spot in the terrain that created an opening underneath the fence. The remains of the bridge, just barely beginning its span across the river before crumbling to an abrupt end, made the opening difficult for a casual observer to spot. Across the river lay the remains of the opposite end of the bridge, with a large pile of white rubble up the riverbank past it. Jeremy surmised that Vince must have been looking at this fence very carefully last night to find it.
“Here it is,” commented Vince as he unhesitatingly plopped down on his belly, crawling under the fence and into the river. Jeremy then followed, though he was not sure why. Perhaps it was not wanting Vince to face whatever awaited him in DC alone. Perhaps it was his own curiosity about DC. Maybe it was a combination of both. But follow he did.
The two boys easily swam across the river, then scrambled up the opposite bank and ran back behind the pile of white rubble. Both boys were dripping wet. Jeremy surmised that this pile must have once been an impressive building with a gothic style.
“Look at that!” exclaimed Vince, his dripping arm pointing out away from the rubble, toward the other plant life and decayed buildings located further inland. “Now it is ours to explore.”
Jeremy was still concerned about being caught, but he had already gone this far. At least the terrain sloped downward past the rubble, into a low-lying basin. That would make them harder to spot from Virginia.
Next the boys bounded down into the basin like two antelopes escaping from a cage. Both looked around for items to observe. There were plenty. To their left, Jeremy noticed what looked like the remains of a black marble wall. He headed off toward it, with Vince instinctively following along. Jeremy picked up a few of the dark chunks. He could tell something had been inscribed on the old wall, most likely people’s names. But none of the chunks were large enough for him to make any clear conclusion. There were also too many chunks for either boy to assemble anything meaningful.
“I wonder what this is?” asked Vince rhetorically.
“You mean what it was? Let’s see what else we can find.”
Continuing on, they encountered what looked like the toppled remains of a tall, white tower. Off to the left, they noticed the remains of another white building, this one bigger than the one they had hidden behind when they first crossed the river. In front of them was mostly open field choked with weeds and vines. On top of a hill in the distance were the remains of a particularly conspicuous white building, with parts of it still standing. To the right and left were two rows of buildings, somewhat leading toward the large, white building in the distance. The buildings were all badly run down, though some were worse than others.
Because the buildings on the left were closer, Vince gestured toward the closest one on that side. He and Jeremy jogged over to that building, then proceeded more cautiously up the dilapidated front steps leading to the front doors. The front doors were all either broken open or completely missing, so the boys easily slipped inside the building. Once inside, they just stood and looked around.
Both boys quickly surmised that this had once been a proud edifice, but it could make that claim no more. The size of the building, with its cavernous entry room, attested to its former brilliance. But now this front room was littered with broken glass, bird dung, chipped paint, plaster, dust, and dirt crumbs. Several mice scurried for cover through some low holes in the walls. But the most noticeable aspect of the room was a huge, round hole in the middle of the floor. Jeremy and Vince proceeded cautiously toward it.
Upon reaching the hole, both boys realized that it was part of the original architecture of the building. The large, multi-pointed star on the floor one story down from the hole attested to that. But whatever railing once surrounded the hole to protect people from falling in had long since been removed. Now it, like just about everything else the boys had seen so far in DC, was just part of a decrepit ruin.
Jeremy looked at Vince. “I don’t see why Krakowski wants to keep us away from this,” Jeremy mused.
“Me either. Unless he is afraid somebody is going to hurt themselves in this mess and not be able to get help.”
“Yeah. Like cutting themselves on some of this glass.”
Jeremy and Vince explored a couple more rooms in the building, not finding anything of interest. There were plenty of buildings to explore. Both boys decided to move on.
Trying the next building, Jeremy and Vince found more of the same, minus the big hole in the front entry room. This time the boys did not even go past the front room, figuring there had to be something more interesting in DC than this.
After the second building, the boys encountered a vacant lot, which had the broken up remains of two streets running perpendicular to their path. Opposite them stood another edifice that looked in many ways like the first two. To the left, both streets descended down into what looked like dark, caved-in tunnels. But just past the streets stood a building that looked better preserved than most.
“Let’s try that building,” Vince suggested, motioning toward it. By now, Jeremy was game. He had gone too far to quit this excursion, and the better-preserved building might contain something interesting.
The front doors of this building, though badly worn, were nonetheless closed. Jeremy unhesitatingly opened a door. Leaving it open, both boys entered the building. Jeremy and Vince were soon glad that they had left the door open, as they soon found themselves in a round, dark room, with the broad beam of daylight peering through the open door as its only light source.
Unlike the first two buildings they had explored, this one did not have a floor that was terribly littered. Other than being noticeably dusty, with dust globs a few inches long and about an inch thick scattered about, this floor was relatively clean. A trail in the dust led to a display case posted in the opposite part of the room. The glass in the display case had been broken.
Instinctively, Jeremy and Vince followed the trail in the dust to the badly damaged display case. The remaining glass, though it had large cracks, was still easily transparent. Inside the display case was a mounted piece of paper. Most of this paper was gone, torn away. The top remained, still mounted behind the remaining glass. It quickly raised their curiosity. Aided by the dim light, they read words that they had never heard before:
“We, the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”
Beneath the paragraph, just above the tearing, was a signature: “David Grove of Wiota, Iowa.”
“Such beautiful words,” commented Jeremy.
“I agree. All these people wanting to help with domestic tranquility, promote their general welfare, and help protect each other by providing for the common defense. These people must have really wanted to help each other.”
“Just think, it was the people of the United States, clear from one end of the country to the other. No matter if they were from Virginia or California, or even one of the RSNA states. It must really have been something.”
“Not only that, but they wanted it for their posterity. For their children, grandchildren, and all others who would come after them. But there are some parts of this that I don’t understand. What do these words ‘justice’ and ‘liberty’ mean? And what is a constitution?”
“Beats me. But what I’d like to know is who this David Grove was. He must have been one of the greatest thinkers of his time.”
“You’re probably right. I see that he was from Iowa, the same state where the RSNA started. He must have had a lot to do with this thing. Kind of makes me think of that Adair guy in Iowa who is leading the RSNA.”
“It would sure be interesting to know more about this stuff. How did it work? Why do they keep this thing here in this building? What does it mean? And who was David Grove?”
“I can answer that for you,” volunteered a raspy, older voice coming from the doorway as a shadow from the doorway darkened the barely lit room. Both boys turned to see a crumpled, gray-haired man standing with a cane. His face displayed a few days of grizzled whisker growth, with his mouth opened in an oval shape. The man was looking right at the boys. Jeremy estimated that he was probably in his seventies.
“I’m David Grove,” continued the man. “While I can’t claim credit for writing those words, I can sure tell you about them.” He beckoned for the boys to walk over toward him. Jeremy and Vince both complied. Then the three seated themselves on the floor just to the side of the doorway.
“That document that you boys just read,” began David, “was written back in 1787, long before any of us were even born. The United States was just getting started back then. The nation’s leaders decided they needed better laws to make this a stronger country.”
“So a bunch of Northerners got together and wrote this thing to help them run the country,” Vince declared.
“Not exactly,” continued David. “First of all, there were Southerners involved in this thing too. Furthermore, it was a man from your state of Virginia that did the most to put this thing together. It was even Virginia that suggested having the convention in the first place.”
“But weren’t laws back then designed to help the North subjugate the South?” queried Jeremy.
“Not at all,” David pointed out. “In fact, many Southerners played big parts in making the laws of the United States. Some Southerners even became major leaders. Four out the first five presidents of the United States were from Virginia. Later, men from Texas, Arkansas, and Georgia also became president.”
“Those were just tokens to help make the South believe the North was giving it a fair chance,” retorted Jeremy.
“Not at all,” replied David. “Those men were all fairly elected under the very Constitution that we are talking about. Besides, everybody in the South had the same opportunities as the people up North. Many Southerners became quite wealthy when the United States was whole. I am sure some of them had roots in the South that went all the way back to the Constitution.”
“All right,” challenged Jeremy. “What about that War Between the States? Why did the North elect a cruel tyrant to run the country and send his armies to completely devastate the South?”
“It’s true that the South once fought a war against the North,” David acknowledged. “But Abraham Lincoln was anything but a tyrant. For decades, the Southern states had been allowing people to own other people as slaves. Yet the United States founded its government on the premise that all people are created equal. Therefore, many people, mostly Northern but some Southern, believed that slavery was wrong. Abraham Lincoln was one of those people. When he got elected president, many Southerners were afraid that he would force them to give up their slaves. Eleven slave-keeping states in the South rebelled.”
“But still, all that destruction was not necessary,” Vince opined.
“Personally, I don’t think war is ever necessary,” David claimed. “It was too bad that war broke out. But the South did fire the first shots. The South started taking over forts that the United States had in the South. For the most part, these forts were manned by soldiers loyal to the United States, which at that time was the North. When the South fired shots at United States soldiers at Fort Sumpter in South Carolina, Abraham Lincoln declared it was an act of war and called on troops to preserve the union.”
“That still does not justify all that destruction,” clamored Jeremy. “Why whole cities, like Atlanta and Richmond, were practically burned to the ground. Not to mention how much countryside also got destroyed.”
“War is terrible,” admitted David. “I am sure nobody really wanted that to happen. Certainly not Abraham Lincoln. But as the war progressed, the fighting got nastier. Both sides wanted to win badly. They fought ferociously. When war escalates like that, terrible things happen.”
“Are you saying it was the South’s fault that it got burned up like that?” queried Jeremy incredulously.
“Not at all,” replied David. “True, the Southerners should not have been practicing slavery. They were just determined to maintain slavery even if it meant breaking away from the union. The Northerners, led by Abraham Lincoln, were just as determined to keep the union together. The North eventually prevailed. The union between the states was preserved. It was just too bad that both North and South had to pay such a horrible price for it.”
“Well, the South paid the higher price,” retorted Vince.
“You think so?” rebuffed David. “True, most of the battles were fought in the South. The South had more of its area torn up. But the North suffered far more casualties, killed and injured. Many of those injured soldiers never recovered. Like the ones who lost arms and legs.”
“But the North was never oppressed by Reconstruction,” Vince pointed out.
“That is one aspect of history the North is not proud of,” admitted David. “Just about everyone, Northern and Southern, who is familiar with Reconstruction agrees that the South should not have been oppressed so badly.”
“That’s not what they teach us in history class,” stated Jeremy. “Our teachers tell us that the North was proud of the pain they inflicted on us.”
“Perhaps some Northerners at the time were,” David replied. “In any group of people, there are going to be some bad ones. Especially during intense times like that, when people see ways to take advantage of situations for personal gain. That is exactly what General Krakowski did when the union dissolved.”
“Are you saying General Krakowski is bad?” inquired Jeremy, more incredulous than ever.
“Absolutely,” answered David. “Think about what they are teaching you in the schools and saying on the news.”
“They say that the federal union was the North’s way of exploiting the South,” admitted Vince.
“And that all of English-speaking North America rightfully belongs to Virginia,” added Jeremy.
“And why does Virginia claim that all of English-speaking North America belongs to it?” asked David.
“Because it was promised to Virginia in the Jamestown Charter of 1607,” answered Jeremy.
“The truth is, we don’t even know if such a charter ever existed,” pointed out David. “And if it did, it may have proposed naming all of English-speaking North America Virginia, but it certainly never promised that the government that eventually became Virginia would get to control it all. That is what General Krakowski would have you believe.”
“But General Krakowski is not the only person saying this,” stated Jeremy. Both he and Vince were starting to figure out the truth about their state’s leader. “What about our teachers?”
“Anything that is run by the government in Virginia is ultimately run by General Krakowski,” David pointed out. “The schools, the legislature, the police, the military, you name it. General Krakowski runs it all. Think: Do you ever hear anybody in Virginia criticize General Krakowski?”
“No,” admitted both Jeremy and Vince, shaking their heads together.
“Nor will you,” continued David. “Anybody who dares criticize Krakowski would be heavily punished. Now, in the old United States, everybody had a right to express their opinion. Same with the new RSNA. A person can even criticize President Adair, and that person would not be punished one bit.”
“Our teachers say that is dangerous. Bad for the country,” Vince stated carefully, reluctantly beginning to surrender his viewpoint.
“Not half as dangerous as what Krakowski is doing,” David answered disgustedly. “Why, that man is robbing his citizens blind. And preventing people from criticizing him is keeping him from being caught. He just continues feeding you all his lies, just to further his own ambition. And that is to rule as much territory and as many people as he can. Just look at what he did to West Virginia.”
“My father went out to the West to help it join Virginia,” volunteered Jeremy.
“What has he told you about what he did out there?” asked David.
“Not a thing,” admitted Jeremy. “He won’t even talk about it. In fact, since then, he has hardly said anything at all.”
“He must have witnessed some pretty horrific things out there,” stated David, shaking his head. “He now knows what is going on. But the state will not dare allow him to say anything about it. The truth is, Virginia was more ruthless in its takeover of West Virginia than the North ever was against the South in the Civil War. What do you think your father would say if he could?”
“I have no idea,” admitted Jeremy. “Something tells me I don’t want to know. But how do you know?”
“Word gets around,” said David. “Some people from West Virginia escaped to other states to avoid the carnage. The RSNA has satellites in space that view the situation. It probably had some airplanes watching, too. The pictures and reports got spread all around the old United States, RSNA or not. General Krakowski is one of the cruelest, most corrupt people of our time.”
“But all the news reports in Virginia say that General Krakowski’s plan is working,” pointed out Jeremy, sitting next to a now-silent Vince. “The reporters claim that the other Southern states are about to join us in breaking down the RSNA. The statisticians claim that we are getting stronger and more prosperous, while the RSNA is getting poorer and weaker.”
“Just remember,” replied David, “that in addition to the state, General Krakowski also controls the media. Those reporters and statisticians are only allowed to say what General Krakowski wants them to say, true or not. If they didn’t, they’d be in prison faster than a lightning bolt. Now think about your life. What do you eat? What do you wear? What kind of shape is your house in? What do you do for entertainment?”
Jeremy thought for a minute. He thought about the monotony of his meals. Sausage, eggs, and milk were rare treats. The price of the CD player he wanted kept increasing so fast he could not begin to save up for it. He could get some decent clothes, but even those were hard to come by.
“We drink as much victory juice as we want for free,” offered Jeremy, looking to Vince for encouragement. But Vince remained silent.
“What does it taste like?” inquired David.
“Kind of a fruity taste, sometimes a little sweet, sometimes a little sour,” Jeremy described it, selecting his words carefully.
“What kind of fruit?”
“I have no idea.”
“That’s because it is made from whatever fruits and berries are available, usually wild ones,” explained David. “Though some of it comes from lower-grade fruit grown in the state. Fruit that’s not worth much. Sometimes they will mix sugar in to make it sweeter. The travesty of it is that Virginia grows enough food that it could easily feed its people quite well. Think of all the farms out in the country and the city land that has been converted to gardens. How much of the corn, peanuts, vegetables, and grains grown in those places do you ever get to eat? What about the animals raised on the farms? How often do you get to eat beef, cheese, or eggs? Or drink milk? People in the RSNA take those things for granted. People in most of the rest of the old United States take them for granted too.”
“So why don’t we get to eat more of that food?” queried Jeremy.
“Because General Krakowski trades it to other countries to get weapons,” replied David. “No other government in the world is more heavily armed compared to its population than Virginia. General Krakowski is power mad. He stocks up on arms, waiting for a chance to take over more land. Just like he did with West Virginia.”
Jeremy thought about the huge warehouse full of munitions that he and Vince had worked at the night before. It all made sense to him. Yet somehow, something was just not right. Everything he had been taught so far was that General Krakowski and the government he had founded in Virginia were very good. Virginia was the most glorious of the states. All of English-speaking North America rightfully was part of it. How could everything he had learned be this wrong?
“I just don’t get it,” lamented Jeremy. “Everything I have learned so far is about how great Virginia is and how great General Krakowski is. He became a big hero for successfully getting the West to join us.”
“General Krakowski rules by sheer force. He has managed, through his military apparatus, to get enough cronies and munitions to hold an entire state under his control. Nobody dares speak out against him or his government for fear of punishment. That is why your dad does not talk much anymore, especially about his experience in West Virginia. Here’s something else for you to think about. Why aren’t you ever allowed to leave Virginia? Why did you have to get past a fence to get here? It is so you won’t make contact with people like me, who will tell you what is really going on.”
“Well, isn’t the RSNA just as bad? Just last spring they took over Maryland.”
“Once again, I ask you to think for a minute. Were there not a whole bunch of troops in Northern Virginia? Why were they there? General Krakowski was planning to invade Maryland. The people in Maryland got scared. So they joined the RSNA. Without meaning to, General Krakowski has been helping the RSNA grow. After taking over West Virginia, he menaced Ohio and Kentucky. They joined the RSNA. Next he menaced Maryland. So not only did Maryland join the RSNA, but so did Delaware and Pennsylvania. Since joining the RSNA, the people of Maryland have been safer, happier, and more prosperous than at any time since the breakup. Not only that, but the more states that join the RSNA, the tougher an opponent it becomes for General Krakowski. The last thing he wants is for more states to join the RSNA.”
“If the RSNA is so great, why have only twelve states joined it? Not only that, but it sounds like five of them joined just because they were scared of Virginia.”
“As you are probably aware,” explained David, “the RSNA started in Iowa. People in most of the states want the United States to be reunited. It was just that nobody could figure out how. The desire to reunify was strongest in the middle of the country, out where Iowa is. The Iowa government, led by President Adair, came up with an idea for reunifying the country. They drafted a new constitution, much like the old the United States Constitution. Then they said they would make it their supreme law, again like the old constitution. Finally, the last clause in that constitution declares that if any other state chooses to make it their supreme law, Iowa and all the other states that have approved it will be considered reunited into one country.”
“But that still does not answer my question,” Jeremy pointed out.
“There are several reasons why more states haven’t joined yet,” replied David. “I think the biggest reservation is that many states, like Illinois, don’t want the whole country governed by a set of rules drafted by one state. Also, while the Iowa articles are much like the old constitution, they did change some things. Some people disagree with some of the changes. But when faced with the choice of either joining the RSNA or being invaded by Virginia, just about anyone would rather join the RSNA.”
“So I take it you live in Maryland,” presumed Jeremy.
“Actually, I don’t. About a thousand people stayed in the District of Columbia, also known as Washington, after the breakup. Without the federal government, there was no reason for people to stay here. But the few of us that stayed look out for each other. We have more than enough good buildings for shelter. We can’t maintain all the buildings. That’s why many of them were left to rot. We have also cleared enough land to grow the food we need. We live an easy, comfortable lifestyle, even though we are far from rich. As long as we can live this way, we are happy.”
“I have another question. Why did you sign your name to that piece of paper over there?”
“To show what a mockery our Constitution has become. When Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and the other founding fathers put that thing together, they wanted to make the United States the best country possible. ‘To secure the blessings of liberty for themselves and their posterity.’ For over two hundred years, it worked. But then came the dissolution. It made a shambles out of our country.”
“Will the United States ever be reunited again?”
“I am sure it will be. Right now the RSNA is doing the best job of it. I am sure that some disagreements will have to be worked out, but the states will all come back together eventually.”
“Freedom. Liberty. Blessings,” Jeremy mused. “It all sounds so nice. But what does it really mean?”
“It means people can do whatever they want as long as it does not violate the rights of others. Granted, in any civilized society, there must be rules and regulations. We here in the District probably have about as few rules as any group of people can have. That’s why we like it. But in a free country like the United States, the people set their own rules through elected officials rather than having them dictated by a self-appointed ruler.”
“But if you live in the DC, why did you write ‘Wiota, Iowa,’ with your signature?”
“Have either of you boys heard of Wiota, Iowa?” inquired David, answering a question with a question. Jeremy and Vince looked at each other. Then they looked back at the old man. They both shook their heads.
“Very few people have. Wiota is a very small town. Perhaps two hundred people at most. It is the town where I grew up. Nowadays, those words in the Constitution mean about as much as my name and that town does.”
Jeremy looked at Vince. Vince nervously looked back. “I guess it’s about time for us to go back home to our bad state,” mumbled Jeremy. Vince nodded his head in reluctant agreement.
“Virginia is not a bad state. It just has bad leadership. Someday it will be the same free, justice-driven state that it was before the dissolution. That is what the people desire at heart. But I must urge you boys not to return to Virginia. Somebody back there will figure out you have been here. Then your lives will never be the same again.”
“Maybe we could stay here in DC, with you,” suggested Jeremy.
“No, that would not be a good idea either. Flee. Now that you have come this far, hightail it on to Maryland. The RSNA will protect you there. We here in DC could not possibly protect you if Virginia sent its military up here to find you.”
Before either Jeremy or Vince could respond, six gray-uniformed men stormed into the building, pistols drawn. One of them quickly fired several shots into David Grove at point-blank range, killing him instantly. Two other men pointed their pistols directly at Jeremy and Vince, motioning for each to raise his hands. Both boys immediately complied. The uniformed men then escorted the boys out of the building.